May: Five Can’t-Miss First Friday Art Events

by Erin Keane on May 4, 2012

Exit Velocity Faster than the Speed of Light (2011) by Awkward x 2

It’s fine to hit the downtown First Friday Trolley Hop without a plan. Park, wander in and out of galleries, grab a drink or dinner with friends and hop a TARC trolley from one end of downtown to the next and back—you’re sure to find something to catch your eye or ears.

But with so many events and gallery receptions happening at once, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, so every month we’ll take a look at five don’t-miss art events happening during the hop.

The western end of the hop is sure to see lots of action this week as the crowds flock down to 21C Museum Hotel to see “David (Inspired by Michelangelo).” He’s hard to miss. But these five events promise to be no less inspiring.

Tim Faulkner Gallery: “Souvenirs of Market Street” — Faulkner and his gallery have been a lively focal point of the Nulu art scene for almost five years. It’s hard to imagine an East Market Street evening without his balcony overflowing with artists, musicians and visitors every Friday, not just the first. Faulkner’s moving into a nearly 10,000-square foot building in Butchertown (only five blocks away) complete with multiple studio spaces, in time for next month’s trolley hop. Tonight will be the gallery’s last First Friday in the current space, so the show will pay tribute to their successful years on Market Street. Stop by and pay your respects (it’s always a good party). 632 E. Market St.

Bourbon Baroque: The Cantata Series — the chamber musicians put a Baroque spin on Stephen Foster and Don Quixote. Read the story. 637 E. Market St.

The Green Building Gallery: Awkward x 2—Los Angeles-based collaborators Rebecca Norton and Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe paint together by combining two different grid systems, generating complex surfaces and unpredictable results. A piece isn’t finished until they aren’t sure who painted which stroke. Science and technology provide a springboard for their work, which includes explorations of the speed at which light particles leave a black hole and the artistic principle of the brightest white. 732 E. Market St.

Garner Narrative Contemporary Fine Art: Jennifer Romita, “Three Ages of Contemporary Female Fertility” — Vancouver-based artist Romita presents a triptych of digital works exploring the tensions surrounding the ideal of the female body, issues of fertility and aging and personal identity. This triptych is part of Romita’s “Plastique” series, an exploration of the effect of cultural expectations and desire on the body and mind, and it’s based on photographs of her own body during pregnancy. 642 E. Market St.

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft: 50 Years of Studio Glass — KMAC’s celebration of 50 years of studio art glass in the U.S. includes an overview of the movement and works by about 60 glass artists, from early pioneers to young innovators, including Richard Jolley, Harvey Littleton and Nancy Callan. Kentucky’s Stephen Rolfe Powell and Che Rhodes, head of the University of Lousville’s glass program, are among the local and regional talent on exhibit. 715 W. Main St.